Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators in Michigan
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,535
after federal, FICA and Michigan tax
Tax takes
$11,735
19.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,471
Michigan costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Michigan — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$59,270
Kept after tax
$47,535
Worth in national money
$50,471
State rank
29
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Michigan is 29 of 50 states for this job, with a middle wage of $59,270. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 493 occupations Michigan reports figures for, this is number 247.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $59,270 you keep $47,535 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $50,471 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $60,080, since top earners drag the number up.
- Michigan ranks 29 of 50 for water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators at $59,270. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- In Michigan's occupational distribution, water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators sits at 247 of 493 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Retained pay in Michigan is $47,535 after the full tax stack, from $59,270. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $50,471 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $60,080 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,710 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,270 |
| Top tenth earn over | $75,910 |
| This salary | $59,270 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Michigan | $47,535 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,803 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$781 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $56,447 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$944 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Michigan earn less than $59,270. The published range is $46,710 up to $75,910, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $47,535 take-home in Michigan comes from $59,270. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 247 of 493.
- Two cautions on $50,471, the adjusted value of that $59,270 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Michigan. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 247 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators in Michigan the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $46,710 to $75,910. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $47,535, from $59,270, assumes a single Michigan filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 247 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 29 of 50 for it.
- This $50,471 adjusted figure, worked from $59,270, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 247 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 247 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $46,710 at the tenth percentile, $75,910 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $50,471.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Michigan's own levy, $47,535 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($46,710 to $75,910) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Michigan rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Michigan's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $50,471 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $47,535 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Michigan income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.